What are Temperate Fruit Plants ?

•Temperate fruit plants are specific in the climatic

requirement.
• They can tolerate both diurnal and seasonal wide
fluctuation of temperature and are grown only in place
where winter is distinctly cold.
• They require exposure of specific chilling temperature
for certain period to break bud dormancy and initiate bud
break.
• These fruit plants are generally deciduous and suitable
of higher elevation as they can withstand frost.
•Examples: apple, pear, plum, apricot, almond, peach,
strawberry, walnut, pecan nut and cherry.
Horticultural classification of temperate fruits
•Classification is a system of placing an individual or a
number in various groups, or to categorizes them
according to a particular plan or sequence which is in
conformity with the nomenclature
Classification helps :
•To identify and name them
•To find some idea of the closeness of their relationship
•To suggest with what other kind they possibly may or
may not be interbred or crossed
•
•To suggest the kind with which they possibly may or
may not be intergrafted
•To suggest soil and cultural requirements and climatic
adaptations.
1.Classification on the basis of plant stature:
1.Temperate tree fruits: Fruits borne on the trees
growing in the temperate climates such as apple,
pear, stone fruits etc.
2.Temperate small fruits: Fruits generally borne on
the vines, brambles or herbaceous plants grown
under temperate climate like strawberry, craneberry,
blackberry, blueberry etc.
3.Temperate nuts: Nuts are characterized by the
hard shell outside, separating the kernel and husk of
the fruit. Pecan nut, hazel nut and walnut are good
examples of temperate fruit plants producing nuts.
2.Classification based on fruit morphology
Depending on number of ovaries involved in fruit
formation, fruits are classified into three groups.
(i) simple fruits
(ii) aggregate fruits
( iii) multiple (composite) fruits
i.Simple fruits: Simple fruits are derived from a single
ovary of one flower. Simple fruits are further classified
as fleshy and dry fruits.
A. Fleshy fruits: These are this fruits whose pericarp
(ovary wall) becomes fleshy or succulent at maturity.
The temperate fleshy fruits may be either pome or
drupe.
a.Pome: The pome is an inferior, two or more celled
fleshy, syncarpous fruit surrounded by the thalamus.
The fruit is referred as false fruit as the edible fleshy
part is not derived from the ovarian tissues but from
external ovarian tissue thalamus. Examples of
temperate pome fruits are apple, pear and quince).
Fleshy fruit: Pomes
Leathery carpels
Edible portion is receptacle

HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut

Production
b.Drupe (stone):
•This type of fruit derived from a single carpel, however, the olive is an exception in
that the flower has two carples and four ovules but one carpel develop. Two ovules
are borne in most of drupes but one seed develops. In this type of fruit, the pericarp
is differentiated into three distinct layers; thin exocarp or peel of the fruits, the
mesocarp which is fleshy and hard and stony endocarp, enclosing seed. Examples
of temperate drupe fruits are cherry, peach, plum and apricot.
• In almond at maturity exocarp
• and mesocarp get separated as leathery involucre and are removed before
marketing, only endocarp containing the edible seed is used hence it is nut.

Fleshy fruit: Drupes

One seeded
Seed within stony endocarp

• Peach, plum, apricot, cherry

– Skin = exocarp
– Eat mesocarp
– Pit = endocarp
HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut
Production
B.Dry fruits: This type of fruit has been
classified on the basis of pericarp (ovary wall)
at maturity. The entire pericarp becomes dry
and often brittle or hard at maturity.
•They are dehiscent ( in which the seeds are
dispersed from fruit at maturity) and
indehiscent ( not split open when ripe) Nuts
are typical example of indehiscent dry fruits
a.Nut:
•A fruit in which carpel wall is hard or bony in texture.

•Fruit is derived from an hypogynous flower ( filbert) or an epigynous one

( walnut) and is enclosed in dry involucres (husk).

•It is only one seeded, but in most cases in derived from two carpels.
Examples are walnut, almond, chestnut, hazelnut and pecan nut.

•Dry fruits are not juicy or succulent when mature and ripe. When dry,
they may split open and discharge their seeds (called dehiscent fruits) or
retain their seeds (called indehiscent fruits).

Dry fruit
One seeded
Seed within stony endocarp

• Almond
– Mesocarp dries and separates
– Endocarp is hard to soft
– Eat seed

HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut

Production
b. Achene:
A one seeded fruit in which the seed is
attached to ovary wall at one point.
Example is strawberry.

Dry fruit: Indehiscent

Single carpel
Does not split when ripe

• Achene
– One seeded, free from pericarp
– Strawberry, sunflower
• Nut
– Similar to achene
– Enclosed by pericarp (leathery in chestnut, woody in walnut)
– Husk (shuck) is fusion of sepals, bracts, bracteoles.

HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut

Production
ii. Aggregate fruits:
Aggregate fruits develop from numerous
ovaries of the same flower. Individual ovary
may be drupe or berry. Raspberry is
included in this category.
Aggregate Fruit
Many ovules
One flower

HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut

Production
iii. Multiple (composite) fruits:
Multiple or composite fruits are produced
from the ripened ovaries of several flowers
crowded on the same inflorescence. The
example of this type is mulberry.

Multiple fruit
Many flowers
Along a common axis or inflorescence

HORT 319 - Temperate Fruit and Nut

Production
3.Classification based on bearing habit:
The flower bud is either terminal or lateral. Based upon the
location of fruit buds and type of flower bearing structure to which they
give rise, the temperate fruits are classified as under.
1.Terminal bearer:
•Flower buds mixed, flowering shoot with terminal inflorescences.
Examples are apple, pear, walnut (pistillate flowers) and pecan (pistillate
flowers)
2. Lateral bearer:
(a) Flower bud containing flower parts only e.g peach, apricot,
plum, cherry, almond, walnut ( staminate catkin) and pecan (staminate
catkin)
(b) Flower buds mixed, flowering shoot with terminal
inflorescences e.g blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, apple and
pear(occasionally)
(c ) Flower buds mixed, flowering shoot with lateral
inflorescences e.g. persimmon, chestnut, pistachio nut, craneberry.
4. Classification based on Fruit Growth Pattern:
•Sigmoid pattern:
•The combined growth of fruit results from cell division,
cell enlargement and air space formation results in
sigmoidal ( S- shaped) curve when fruit weight is
plotted as function of time. Examples are apple, walnut,
pecan, strawberry and pear

Single sigmoidal growth curve

•Double sigmoid:
•The first slow growth period coincides with the period of pit hardening,
during which lignification of the endocarp( stone) proceeds rapidly, while
mesocarp and seed growth suppressed. Near the end of pit hardening, flesh
cells enlarge rapidly until fruit is ripe, after which growth slows down and
ceases. Examples are peach, plum, cherry and kiwifruit

Double sigmoidal growth curve